8351. 'And the people grumbled against Moses' means grief caused by the bitterness of the temptation. This is clear from the meaning of 'grumbling' as complaint, the kind made in temptations, thus grief caused by the bitterness of the temptation. The temptations which those belonging to the Lord's spiritual Church underwent after they had been delivered from molestations, in addition to the temptations which members of that Church are destined to undergo, are described by the grumblings of the children of Israel in the wilderness. And since spiritual temptations are as a general rule protracted till a person is in despair, 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280, 7147, 7166, 8165, 'grumbling' means complaint because of grief felt in temptations, as in Exodus 16:2-3; 17:3; Numbers 14:27, 29, 36; 16:11. The words 'against Moses' are used because it was a grumbling against what was Divine; for 'Moses' represents Divine Truth, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382.

[2] As regards the temptations which those belonging to the spiritual Church underwent, and the temptations which members of that Church are destined to undergo, it should be recognized that no faith, nor thus any charity, can ever be instilled into those who belong to the spiritual Church except by means of temptations. In temptations a person is involved in conflict against falsity and evil. These - falsity and evil - flow into the external man from the hells, while goodness and truth flow in from the Lord by way of the internal man; and so there arises from a conflict of the internal man with the external that which is called temptation. And in the measure that the external man is brought into a state of obedience to the internal, faith and charity are instilled; for the external or natural level of a person is a receptacle of truth and good from the internal. If the receptacle is not properly adjusted it does not receive anything flowing in from the more internal level but either repels, destroys, or stifles it, as a consequence of which there is no regeneration. So it is that temptation is necessary, in order that a person may undergo regeneration, which is effected through the instillation of faith and charity, and thereby through the formation of a new will and new understanding. This also explains why the term 'militant' is applied to the Lord's Church. See what has been stated and shown already about these matters in 3928, 4249, 4341, 4572, 5356, 6574, 6611, 6657, 7090 (end), 7122, 8159, 8168, 8179, 8273.

1668. 'And in the thirteenth year they rebelled' means the onset of temptations in childhood. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thirteenth year' and from the meaning of 'rebelling' - the thirteenth year coming between the twelfth and fourteenth. What is meant by twelve has been stated already, and what is meant by fourteen is to follow. 'Thirteen' is the interval between the time when there is no temptation and the time when there is. What 'rebelling' means becomes clear when it is used in reference to the evils present with a person, or to evil spirits, when they have been held in subjection or are subservient and then start to rise up and infest.

[2] Evils, or evil spirits, are in rebellion to the extent that a person who wishes to be governed by goods and truths confirms within himself certain evils and falsities, that is, to the extent that evil desires and falsities introduce themselves into his goods and truths. It is in evil desires and falsities that the life of evil spirits consists, but in goods and truths that the life of angels consists; and from this, infestation and conflict arise. This is so with all who have conscience, and was all the more so with the Lord when a boy, who had perception. With those who have conscience a dull pain arises, but with those who have perception intense pain; and the more interior the perception, the more intense is that pain. From this it becomes clear what the temptation of the Lord, who had interior and inmost perception, was like in comparison with men's.